Dragon's Lair (Franchise)
Dragon's Lair is a series of laserdisc video games created by Don Bluth and published by Cinematronics. The series began in 1983 with its first game released in arcades also called Dragon's Lair. ''The game itself achieved a major success as ''Space Ace, a sequel to the original game that uses new characters and a futuristic setting was released in 1984. In 1990, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp ''would then be the third game and true sequel in the series returning to the original characters of the first game while also adding new characters. After 12 years, ''Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair would be the 4th and recent Dragon's Lair title released in 2002. Much like the original game, the Trilogy received extremely positive reception and started the entire laserdisc genre inspiring many laserdisc games such as Thayer's Quest and Braindead 13. In 2010, The three games would be in a bundle known as Dragon's Lair Trilogy receive multiple ports to DVD and video game consoles as well as release spin-off games, a comic miniseries and a television cartoon. The series also has a movie in the works albeit in development hell. History Dragon's Lair Dragon's Lair ''released in 1983 in arcades. In the video game, the Valiant Knight known as Dirk the Daring enters a dark mysterious castle to save the beautiful Princess Daphne from an evil dragon. Unlike common arcade games, Dragon's Lair ran on an animation sequence created by ex-disney animator Don Bluth. The player directs Dirk in the direction he needs to go in order to advance deeper into the castle. While the original arcade game's level were randomized with each area cleared, the home versions have an option to set areas in a select order. The game achieved a worldwide success and is often cited as one of the greatest arcade games in video game history for its innovation of laserdisc technology as well as aiding in the turn around of the Video Game Crash of 1983. By 1984, Dragon's Lair had grossed $32 million dollars for Cinematronics. As for the games popularity, Dragon's Lair had been ported to numerous game consoles, most recently to the Nintendo Switch in Dragon's Lair Trilogy. Space Ace ''Space Ace was revealed in 1983 and hit arcades in 1984. The game stars Ace, a space pilot who had been struck with the evil Borf's Infant-O-Ray turning himself into the feeble Dexter. Transforming to and from Ace, Dexter chases down Borf to save his friend Kimberly. The gameplay is strikingly similar to Dragon's Lair however the player has a choice to change Dexter into Ace or not. Much like its predecessor, The game was developed by the same group of people and aimed to keep down production costs. However, the game had not been so critically acclaimed as Dragon's Lair had been. Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp Once again created by Bluth Group, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp released in 1991 after a 3-year development. The game is a direct sequel to the first Dragon's Lair having Dirk and Daphne Married and producing multiple children. Daphne is kidnapped once again by an evil wizard named Mordroc with Dirk in pursuit travelling through time on a time machine. Unlike the first game, The cinematic is not random and follows scenes in an order the player must direct Dirk through. The game also has optional golden collectibles but do not serve a purpose in the game. Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair 12 years after Dragon's Lair and celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dragon's Lair, Dragonstone Software developed Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair. The game is the debut of Dragon's Lair in its entirety in cel shaded 3D. Princess Daphne is captured by the two main antagonists returning to the castle as Dirk chases after them. Unlike the original trilogy, The game is an action-adventure platformer. Dirk the Daring is fully controllable, has brand new abilities and arsenal as he advances deeper and deeper into the castle. Adaptions to be added Ports Dragon's Lair led to the creation of numerous video game ports for home systems. Since some original sequences did not fit in the ports for those systems, they were re-introduced in a pseudo-sequel called Escape from Singe's Castle. A non-linear arcade interpretation of Dragon's Lair and Escape from Singe's Castle with platform and puzzle elements was made by Software Projects for 8-bit machines in 1986. The sequence with the drawbridge and eyestalks seen in the attract mode was excised from the original arcade version of the game, but still remains on the laserdisc, playable in fan-made modifications of the program, or in the version of the game released in Europe, as well as the Sega CD, PC, DVD, and HD versions. A platformer adaptation of the game was also made for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES, also called Dragon's Lair. The Game Boy version (entitled Dragon's Lair: The Legend) in particular has almost nothing to do with the source game aside from Dirk as the protagonist, Mordroc as the villain, and saving Princess Daphne as the objective. In fact, the game is a port of an older ZX Spectrum game, Roller Coaster, the result being a platform game where Dirk has to negotiate a series of thinly-disguised fairground rides. The later Game Boy Color version, however, is a more faithful rendition of the original game. The Dragon's Lair Deluxe Pack was released for home computers containing all the FMV for all three games. Though it contains all the video, including some scenes cut from the North American version of the game, the gameplay was seen as lackluster. ReadySoft released Dragon’s Lair for the Apple Macintosh on CD-ROM in 1994. A Sega CD version was also released. DAPHNE, an emulator for laserdisc based games, can emulate the original 1983 version. DAPHNE requires the ROM files plus the original laserdisc to run. Alternatively, an MPEG-2 video stream and Ogg Vorbis audio stream can be substituted for the laserdisc. These streams can be generated from the original laserdisc or from Digital Leisure's 2002 DVD. In July 2010 The iOS version was released by Electronic Arts on Apple's App Store. The game's graphics have been cleaned up for the iPhone screen. Platform ports Dragon's Lair led to the creation of numerous video game ports for home systems. Since some original sequences did not fit in the ports for those systems, they were re-introduced in a pseudo-sequel called Escape from Singe's Castle. A non-linear arcade interpretation of Dragon's Lair and Escape from Singe's Castle with platform and puzzle elements was made by Software Projects for 8-bit machines in 1986. The sequence with the drawbridge and eyestalks seen in the attract mode was excised from the original arcade version of the game, but still remains on the laserdisc, playable in fan-made modifications of the program, or in the version of the game released in Europe, as well as the Sega CD, PC, DVD, and HD versions. A platformer adaptation of the game was also made for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES, also called Dragon's Lair. The Game Boy version (entitled Dragon's Lair: The Legend) in particular has almost nothing to do with the source game aside from Dirk as the protagonist, Mordroc as the villain, and saving Princess Daphne as the objective. In fact, the game is a port of an older ZX Spectrum game, Roller Coaster, the result being a platform game where Dirk has to negotiate a series of thinly-disguised fairground rides. The later Game Boy Color version, however, is a more faithful rendition of the original game. The Dragon's Lair Deluxe Pack was released for home computers containing all the FMV for all three games. Though it contains all the video, including some scenes cut from the North American version of the game, the gameplay was seen as lackluster. ReadySoft released Dragon’s Lair for the Apple Macintosh on CD-ROM in 1994. A Sega CD version was also released. DAPHNE, an emulator for laserdisc based games, can emulate the original 1983 version. DAPHNE requires the ROM files plus the original laserdisc to run. Alternatively, an MPEG-2 video stream and Ogg Vorbis audio stream can be substituted for the laserdisc. These streams can be generated from the original laserdisc or from Digital Leisure's 2002 DVD. In July 2010 The iOS version was released by Electronic Arts on Apple's App Store. The game's graphics have been cleaned up for the iPhone screen.[32] Development Dragon's Lair began as a concept by Rick Dyer, president of Advanced Microcomputer Systems (which later became RDI Video Systems). A team of game designers created the characters and locations, then choreographed Dirk's movements as he encountered the monsters and obstacles in the castle. The art department at AMS created storyboards for each episode as a guide for the final animation. Dyer was inspired by the text game Adventure. This game gave rise to an invention he dubbed The Fantasy Machine. This device went through many incarnations from a rudimentary computer using paper tape (with illustrations and text) to a system that manipulated a videodisc containing mostly still images and narration. The game it played was a graphic adventure called The Secrets of the Lost Woods. Attempts to market The Fantasy Machine had repeatedly failed. Allegedly, an Ideal Toy Company representative walked out in the middle of one presentation. Dyer's inspiration allegedly came during his viewing of The Secret of NIMH, whereby he realized he needed quality animation and an action script to bring excitement to his game. He elected to take a reserved but as of yet unscripted location from The Secrets of the Lost Woods known as The Dragon's Lair. The game was animated by veteran Disney animator Don Bluth and his studio. Development was done on a shoestring budget, cost US $1 million and took seven months to complete. Since the studio could not afford to hire any models, the animators used photos from Playboy magazines for inspiration for the character Princess Daphne. The animators also used their own voices for all the characters instead of hiring voice actors in order to keep costs down, although it does feature one professional voice actor: Michael Rye as the narrator in the attract sequence (he is also the narrator for Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II). The voice of Princess Daphne was provided by Vera Lanpher[4] who was head of the Clean-up Department at the time. Dirk the Daring's voice belongs to film editor Dan Molina, who later went on to perform the bubbling sound effects for another animated character, Fish Out of Water, from the 2005 Disney film Chicken Little, which he also edited. Dirk shrieks or makes other noises on numerous occasions but speaks words only twice. First, he mutters "Uh, oh" when the platform begins to recede during the fire-swinging sequence, then he exclaims "Wow!" when first entering the Dragon's Lair and laying eyes on the imprisoned Princess Daphne. The music and many sound effects were scored and performed by Chris Stone at EFX Systems in Burbank. Bryan Rusenko and Glen Berkovitz were the recording engineers. The 43 second "Attract Loop" was recorded in a straight 18 hour session. Featured instruments, all keyboards, were the E-mu Emulator and Memory MOOG. In popular culture *''Dragon's Lair'' is featured in the Video Games Live tour. *A Robot Chicken episode, "Celebrity Rocket", shows Dirk battling a mid-life crisis in the segment Dragon's Lair: The Middle Ages. *''Dragon's Lair'' was once a featured game on the 1980s video game based game show, Starcade. The entire episode can be seen in Digital Leisure's 20th Anniversary DVD and PC CD ROM editions. *The Italo dance group Koto used extensive samples from the game in its song "Dragon's Legend". *A portion of the game was parodied in the TV show Family Guy. In Season 7, episode 8, titled "Family Gay", protagonist Peter Griffin portrayed Dirk the Daring. After bragging to his wife Lois about almost beating "The Dragon's Lair" we see a flashback re-creation of the flying horse scene where he manages to dodge some of flames but smacks into the wall bringing up the dreaded death scene. *Mentioned in the "Stranger Things" Season 2 as an arcade game *In the Samurai Jack episode, "Jack and the Farting Dragon" a Scissorsmith Jack meets references it along with Space Ace. Legacy The original Fantasy Machine was later released as a prototype video game console known as Halcyon. Various home computer adaptations of Dragon's Lair were released during the 1980s and 1990s but because of (at the time) high memory consumption due to the detailed animation of the games, not all scenes from the original game were included. Reviewers of the home computer versions differed widely in their appraisal of the game, with one Amiga magazine awarding it 92% due to the unprecedented audio-visual quality,27 with another magazine giving the same version a score of only 32% on account of the "wooden" gameplay.28 This led to Escape from Singe's Castle, a pseudo-sequel where Daphne is kidnapped at the moment of Dirk's victory by a shapeshifter, forcing him to venture even further into the castle to save her again. The game was made up of unused scenes from the laserdisc version, though some portions (such as the lizard king and mud men) were shortened. The 8-bit versions were created by Software Projects, while Readysoft handled the 16-bit versions. These used video compression and new storage techniques, but came on multiple 3.5" floppy disks. The game also led to the creation of a short-lived television animated series, Dragon's Lair by Ruby-Spears Productions, in which the originally nameless Dragon was given the name Singe, and Princess Daphne (portrayed by Ellen Gerstell29) now wore a less-revealing pink dress. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced and aired on the ABC network from September 8, 1984, to April 27, 1985. It was last aired on the Cartoon Express between the late '80s and the early '90s, with a commercial bumper showing Dirk inside the train entertaining children with magic tricks while Singe the Dragon ran by his back until Dirk pulled out his sword and chased Singe. The show boasted an unusual feature: to keep the spirit of the game, before each commercial break a narrator would ask what the viewer would do to solve the problem facing Dirk. After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices were shown before Dirk acts on the correct idea (with the occasional exception) to save the day. The game inspired a sequel (disregarding Escape from Singe's Castle as one), Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, created shortly after the original, but released in 1991. It also led to the creation of 1984's Space Ace, another game animated by Don Bluth and his crew. Space Ace was also a ROM and disc upgrade kit for the Dragon's Lair cabinets, complete with new control panel overlay, side art and header. Dragon's Lair III: The Curse of Mordread was made for Amiga and DOS in 1993, mixing original footage with scenes from Time Warp that were not included in the original PC release due to memory constraints. The game also included a newly produced "Blackbeard the Pirate" stage that was originally intended to be in the arcade game but was never completed.30 In late 2002, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original arcade release of the smash hit, Digital Leisure Inc. produced a special edition DVD box set of the three arcade classics that defined laserdisc video games: Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp. All the scenes from the original arcade releases were included and optionally the player could select new scenes that were animated in 1983, but not included in any previous Dragon’s Lair release. The games were also updated to include higher quality video, authentic scene order and a new difficulty selection to make it more challenging for Dragon’s Lair pros. Digital Leisure worked with a small independent game developer, Derek Sweet, to release a CD-ROM 4-Disc Box Set for Windows based PCs. Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair was developed in 2002, as a 3D interpretation of the game for Microsoft Windows, Xbox, GameCube and the PS2. A comic book miniseries based on the game, but incorporating elements from the cartoon series as well, like Dirk's horse Bertram, was released in 2003 by Crossgen Publishing, concurrent with a mini series based on Space Ace. Arcana Studio published the entire comic book series in 2006, as there were three issues that were never before published. In 2005, Digital Leisure created a new Dragon's Lair III, which utilized 3D footage from Dragon's Lair 3D, but controlled via a system like the original arcade games. In late 2006, Digital Leisure released "Dragon's Lair HD", featuring an all-new High-Definition transfer from the original negatives (as opposed to just sourcing the laserdisc). The original mono soundtrack has also been remastered into Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (on PCs that can support it). According to Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, a Dragon's Lair movie has been scripted and is ready to go into production once financing for the project is in place. The film will be in the classic, traditional 2D animation style. Currently, however, the project is in development hell. Bluth and Goldman are now looking for funding to put the film in production. On April 9, 2007, a Blu-ray Disc version of Dragon's Lair was released. This uses the same HD transfer as the aforementioned PC release, but went through a 6 month process to clean and remaster the image. Dragon's Lair Blu-ray Disc is the first title to fully utilize the BD-J technology. Category:Games